The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Men's top seeds struggle; women cruise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 28, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Men's top seeds struggle; women cruise

— PHOTO: AP

ON A ROLL:While most of the men's seeds found the going tough, Britain's Andy Murray had a smooth sailing into the fourth round.

LONDON: While men's top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal scraped and struggled through to the second week of Wimbledon, the Williams sisters barely broke sweat.

Defending champion Federer was forced to come back from two sets down in his opening match and dropped the second set in round two.

Meanwhile, Nadal had to play five sets in his second round match and come back from 2-1 down again in his third round clash eventually winning against the 33rd seed Philipp Petzchner 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3..

Even the third seed, Novak Djokovic, was forced to come back from 2-1 down in the first round, in a five-set match that finished under the Centre Court roof just two minutes before closing time.

The gruelling nature of the men's draw could not have been highlighted more than the record-shattering match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, which went on for an extraordinary 11 hours and 183 games.

But in the women's draw, the big names have hardly had to hit third gear. Defending champion Serena Williams has dropped only 10 games in three matches to reach the fourth round, while her sister and the No. 2 seed Venus has dropped only 11.

Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova are also yet to drop a set, while of the other women in the last 16, beside the fourth seed Jelena Jankovic, only the unfancied Petra Kvitova and Klara Zakopalova have dropped sets.

But one man who will have no sympathy for the unconvincing starts and gruelling matches of top three men Federer, Nadal and Djokovic is Britain's Andy Murray.

The fourth seed is yet to drop a set in southwest London and could not be more happy about it.

He swept aside 26th seed Simon with contemptuous ease and will play American 18th seed Sam Querrey or Belgium's Xavier Malisse in the next round.

Sania, Bhupathi lose

On a disappointing day for India, Sania Mirza crashed out of the women's doubles competition, while Mahesh Bhupathi exited in the mixed doubles event with second round defeats.

Already out of contention in the singles event, Sania and her Dane partner Caroline Wozniacki lost 6-7(0) 3-6 to the 11th seeded Zimbabwean-Slovak pairing of Cara Black and Daniela Hantuchova.

More disappointment

There was more disappointment for India as Bhupathi and his American partner Liezel Huber went down 2-6, 6-3, 3-6 to Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Vera Dushevina in the mixed doubles event.

It was a stunning result as the third-seeded Bhupathi and Huber were expected to have it easy against their unseeded rivals. Bhupathi, however, remains in contention in men's doubles, having advanced to the third round with Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

The fourth seeds will play Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania in their next match.

Men: Third round: 4-Andy Murray bt 26-Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Women: Doubles: Second round: Cara Black / Daniela Hantuchova bt Sania Mirza / Caroline Wozniacki 7-6(0); 6-3.

Mixed doubles: Second round: Dmitry Tursunov / Vera Dushevina bt Mahesh Bhupathi / Liezel Huber 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 .

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport